Thursday, October 29, 2015

Lucia is just too funny these days. She's learning so much and all her new knowledge--from the bus, from her new friends, from her teachers, from her six-year-old life--sometimes filters out in hilarious ways. Two examples from today and yesterday:

At the dinner table last night, I was talking to the girls about the wedding this weekend, instructing them on good manners and etc. Greta announced that if the bride approaches our table during dinner, she'll give the bride a big hug. Lucia thought about this for a moment, then said, "But what if Greta hugs the bride and she has SAUCE on her hands???" Too funny.

Today, in the car, Greta was having a four-year-old moment and kicked my arm as I reached back to unbuckle her seatbelt. When I suggested she apologize, she refused. Then Lucia said, "What if, instead of saying 'Sorry,' you say 'Sorry, buster!'" I'm still laughing over this one. I have no idea where she got that. Sorry, buster!

Lucia also told me this week that she has two boyfriends, and "One of them, like, LOVES me." She knows this because when she walks into the room they smile at each other.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Happy birthday! You're four! Four seemed so huge when Lucia was marking this milestone--but you are still undeniably my baby. You've been awash in birthday celebrations for two weeks now, and your birthday and Lucia's birthday kind of blur together since I just split up a lot of the gifts between the two of you. Nonetheless, today was your day, and it was a fun one.

You got to open one present this morning, a large plush Princess Luna (Lucia got one too). I was the helping parent at school, and you wore a sticker announcing your birthday and also announced it yourself as each of your classmates arrived. I brought cupcakes for your class, and everyone sang to you.

This afternoon, once Lucia got home from school, you got to open the rest of your gifts. Your favorites were a tiny sleeping Applejack in a bed and a variety of blind bag ponies. At your request, we had waffles for dinner, and then a cake you'd picked out from the grocery store (which, tired and overwhelmed by that point, you didn't eat). We took a fairly hilarious video of you at your tiredest, done-with-birthday moment, when you gave each of us an emphatic "thumb's down" and declared you WERE NOT four and that your name was "mister." Faced with your own absurdity, you then suddenly lost your bad mood and began laughing hysterically. The whole video--a minute, two minutes tops--perfectly showcases the insanity and hilarity of you at four years old.

I think four will be good to you. You had a rough start to your preschool year--lots of tears at separation, much hesitation at the whole school idea--but each week you seem more and more comfortable. There haven't been anymore tears since an absolutely insane day where you so violently resisted going to school that you actually drove ME to tears in front of teachers and other moms. That was fun. But that was also a turning point, and you've been fine ever since.

This is a two-weeks-late letter, better than no letter at all. The start of school made September a blur; I'd counted on getting my footing in October, but the insanity of your birthday and Greta's birthday back to back makes October pretty crazy too.

But: you're six! Five was a watershed birthday, but six is showing even more transformations, coupled as it is with the start of kindergarten. You've become such a kid these past two months, and you were beyond excited about your birthday. Daddy was in Germany on the big day, and he hated not being home to celebrate with you. But Gra and Pop-Pop came to NJ for a few days, and I can safely say you had a wonderful birthday.

In the morning, I gave you one present before you left for school--a large Princess Celestia plush you'd discovered when we were in Ocean City, MD, and which we secretly bought for you (and Greta). I was a lunch helper at school, so I got to see you during the day--you were wearing a paper birthday crown and sat surrounded by your new friends, giggly and happy and instructing me to do my job and help kids around the cafeteria whenever I hovered behind you too long. I brought cupcakes to your teacher to give to your class, which you were very excited about. You were very excited about a birthday pencil your teachers gave you.

You bounded off the bus that afternoon, and we rushed home for the long-awaited present opening. You tore through everything in five minutes flat, barely registering what was beneath the wrappings. Among your gifts: a Rainbow Dash Equestria Girl, some blind bag ponies, an Applejack barn, Fashion Plates, Uno. (When Daddy came back from Germany, he gave you and Greta a rainbow set of crystal glitter blind bag ponies. Thrilling.)

You requested pancakes for dinner, and then we had cake and sang happy birthday. It was a fun, simple birthday and you loved it. And now you're six! With a jack-o-lantern smile, one tooth gone.

Favorite books: it's funny--with you gone most of the day now our long reading spells have fallen off. You recently liked George's Marvelous Medicine.

This blog began in 2006, when I quit my job and sold all my furniture to move to Barcelona with Andrew, skipping town blissfully and dramatically; then we skipped town again, to California, and then, finally, back to Brooklyn. Now I'm in a rambling old house in the suburbs, with two babies and a husband and the suspicion that we won’t be skipping town again anytime soon—at least not the kind of skipping town that involves packing boxes and moving trucks.